Hollywood's Penn Dutch Food Center Gets Half-Million-Dollar Face-Lift

Back in the mid-1970s, Edwin and Sophie Salsburg relocated from central Pennsylvania to South Florida and soon set to convincing their three sons — Bill, Paul, and Rick — to move south and help them start a business. Thus in 1975 Penn Dutch Food Center opened within eyeshot of Interstate...

By Zachary Fagenson

August 16, 2017

Penn Dutch's yellow building has been an I-95 landmark for decades. Courtesy of Penn Dutch Food Center

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In the mid-'70s, Edwin and Sophie Salsburg relocated from central Pennsylvania to South Florida and soon set to persuading their three sons — Bill, Paul, and Rick — to move south and help them start a business. Thus, in 1975, Penn Dutch Food Center opened in Hollywood within eyeshot of I-95 and became a kind of landmark.

Yet after a few decades (and being joined by an outpost in Margate), the building began showing its age. So earlier this summer, the Salsburgs embarked on a three-month, half-million-dollar renovation of the place so as not to let Publix nip too much at its heels.

"There’s always competition in the market, something newer, shinier," says Greg Salsburg, Bill's son and a member of the third generation of the family running the store. "We felt like we needed to invest some money and give her a face-lift."

Yet it seems it was just a matter of making the market's exterior match its interior, which offers 21-day-wet-aged steaks and house-made sausages.

The Salsburgs will be on hand August 26 from noon to 4 p.m. to celebrate the overhaul's completion and to give you a chance to challenge world Pac Man champion Billy Mitchell during a round of the classic arcade game. Make sure your wrists are loose and your trunk has room for meat.

Penn Dutch Food Center. 3950 N. 28th Ter., Hollywood; 954-921-7144; penn-dutch.com. Monday through Saturday 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

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Zachary Fagenson became the New Times Broward-Palm Beach restaurant critic in 2012 before taking up the post for Miami in 2014. He also works as a correspondent for Reuters.

Contact: Zachary Fagenson

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